An Oh So special parfait experience for that Christmas exotica event

Dan Lepard

Christmas is surely about the best surprises, moments that make you smile and forget just for a moment all the complexity in life without adding to it. So this pudding - in the grand tradition of Australian iced Christmas desserts - can be made a week ahead, sliced straight from frozen and, in my view at least, gets an evocative mix of childhood and adult flavours bang-on.

There's a little science magic involved too: melted white chocolate and coconut oil soaks in and seals the porous texture of the cereal so it stays crisp even when mixed through a thick custard and frozen. Also, the soft meringue and rum stirred through the custard stop the pudding freezing rock-hard, keeping it in a firm but sliceable state. Just what you need when Christmas Day gets overly hectic. If you want to leave the alcohol out, just replace it with a few teaspoons of vanilla extract, though the parfait will freeze firmer without the rum. It is wooingly sweet so I have a bowl of berries at hand to spoon over for serving.